City Tour and St Isaac's Cathedral

A half-day overview of the city with one interior chosen for its scale. The car takes you past the main squares, embankments and islands, and the walk inside St Isaac’s Cathedral shows you the empire at its most ambitious.

The route

The ceremonial centre. From Nevsky Prospect past Kazan Cathedral, Gostiny Dvor and Arts Square to the Field of Mars, then on to Palace Square with the Winter Palace, the General Staff arch and the Alexander Column. Senate Square and the Bronze Horseman lie right beside the cathedral.

The Neva. Across the river to the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, past the cruiser Aurora and over Trinity Bridge, with stops where the panoramas open up.

St Isaac’s Cathedral. Auguste de Montferrand, a young Frenchman, built it between 1818 and 1858. It is the fourth church of St Isaac on the site and one of the largest domed churches in the world, 101.5 metres high and once able to hold 12,000 people. It rests on more than ten thousand piles driven into marshy ground. The portico columns, each a single piece of granite weighing about 114 tonnes, were raised before the walls.

Inside, the cathedral is a gallery of stone: malachite and lapis lazuli on the iconostasis, coloured marble, jasper and porphyry, mosaics, Bryullov’s painting in the dome, and a stained-glass altar window, rare in an Orthodox church. The gilding of the dome used about a hundred kilograms of gold. During the Siege of Leningrad its cellars sheltered treasures from the suburban palaces, and shell marks remain on the western portico.

Good to know

• The tour lasts about 3.5 hours, with the start time agreed at booking.
• The car and the entry ticket to St Isaac’s Cathedral are included.
• The climb to the colonnade is not included and can be paid for separately.
• The driving section is seen from outside, at stops and short walks.
• Meals are not included. The tour can be private or part of a group.

Who it suits

Visitors who like architecture and engineering, anyone wanting one impressive interior on a short schedule, and first-time visitors who want a full overview in half a day.